


May be gone tomorrow!

by Lionheart39



Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-18 22:15:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29616240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lionheart39/pseuds/Lionheart39
Summary: Ten years ago today the Whonivers lost one of it’s best loved ambassadors. This is a small tribute to Nick Courtney. I've tried to stick roughly to cannon and I've tried to include Nicks beliefs. I know from what I've read about him that his faith was very important  to him. So Nick you maybe gone, but you are not forgotten, thank you for everything!
Kudos: 6





	May be gone tomorrow!

The lighting in the room had been dimmed, all the intrusive monitors and resuscitation equipment removed. He had asked them to just let him go peacefully. They had looked at one another unsure and seemed to be trying to find reasons to object to his request. 

“For goodness sake, I'm 81 years old, I’ve had my allotted time and more! Just let me go, peacefully! I want to be reunited with my wife!”

“We've contacted Kate, a few days....” 

He shook his head, “Even with this lot..,” he gestured weakly with his hand, “there won't be time, just get me looking reasonable and arrange a video link to Kate and I'll say my goodbyes to her!”

Dr Martha Jones took his hand, “Alright, Bri...., Alistair, but I insist on keeping you medicated, enough to keep you comfortable!”

He smiled up at her. “I wouldn't want it any other way,” he murmured.

They had arranged the call to Kate and they had said tearful farewells to each other! It had broken his heart just that little bit more. But the call had assured them both of their love for each other. He was at peace with their relationship now. He was so proud of her and he had told her so! She had assured him of her love for him and how proud of him she was! She forgave him for all the time he was absent from her life! What's more she understood his desire to go quietly, to be at peace!

Dr Jones had remained in the room during the call, staying discreetly in the background but close enough to help if he needed it.

He had grown fond of the young Doctor, she had been wonderfully kind to Doris, following her wishes to the end. Doris had died six months before in this very room, holding tight to his hand. A stroke, such a terrible way for such a beautiful woman to end her days. She had been unable to speak, but her love for him had shone out of her eyes. 

Martha had been in the room when he been dozing in the chair next to Doris‘s bed holding her hand, when Doris had suddenly sat up. Both Martha and he had been taken by surprise.

“Oh, Alistair, it's beautiful, it's a garden!” 

There were tears in her eyes as she looked at him clutching his hand even tighter! 

“I'll be there waiting for you to join me, Alistair, don't keep me waiting too long!” 

Then she had fallen back on the pillows all life gone, but a beautifully serene smile on her face. A face that no longer drooped on the left hand side! That's when he knew the after life he wondered about, that he had always hoped existed, was real. And now he knew he would soon be there and Doris’s waiting would be over.

He heard voices at the door and then the young nurse who had been sat next to the bed holding his hand was leaving the room. They had assigned someone to sit with him at all times. No one should die alone. Martha had assured him he would always have someone with him. Sometimes it was a nurse, sometimes it was a soldier. 

He had said to one of the young soldiers that it wasn't a pleasant duty to pull, keeping a dying old man company! He had been startled by the young man's reply!

“It’s not a duty Sir, we're all volunteers, I was lucky enough to be chosen!” 

At Alistair's surprised look, he'd said, “It's an honour to be here Sir, my Grandfather, Paul Jenkins, served with you! He said to remind you of him, if I got the chance!”

“Chap with wings, five rounds rapid!” Alistair murmured. 

The young man had grinned! Obviously his grandfather had told him the story of Bok!

He opened his eyes and a pretty blond woman in a colourful jumper was stood by the bed. Her strawberry blond hair framing a rather beautiful face and in the face were a pair of ageless eyes that were looking at him lovingly, eyes full of pain and sadness.

His face lit up in a smile and he raised his hand off the cover for her to take.

“Doctor, glad it's you!” he said, quietly.

The young woman grasped his hand in both of hers as she flopped down into the chair and tried to sniff back the tears.

“How do you always know it's me?”

He smiled weakly, “Now that would be telling!”

“A secret you intend to keep forever!” she asked raising an eyebrow in a fair imitation of his own eyebrow raising technique.

He laughed, “Oh, I'll tell you, someday!”

At that cryptic comment her brow furrowed.

“I thought it would be the young you with the bow tie? He used to drop by a lot!”

She smiled sadly, “I got distracted and I missed... So I came back today, because, I always wanted to be here for you and it can't hurt anything!”

He nodded understanding what she meant.

She looked around the room, “I expected to see Doris and Kate?”

He smiled sadly, “Kate is stuck in Peru!” he said an amused grin spread across his face. Then a sadness came in to his eyes as they flicked to the large head and shoulders photo of his wife, that took pride of place on the cabinet next to the bed. “Doris, died six months ago!” he said softly.

The Doctor’s face fell, “Oh Alistair, I'm so sorry, I should have been here for you!”

He smiled, “Nothing you could have done Doctor, we all have our allotted span, we all at some point cease to continue in this life. Doris came to the end of her time and passed on, and now I'm about to join her!”

“You still believe in an after life?” the Doctor asked.

The old soldier looked slightly worried.

“You are not going to tell me there isn't one! Are you?” he asked worriedly. 

The Doctor shook her head! “I think it's all about faith and belief, I'm just a little surprised with everything you've seen in your life that you still believe!”

He grinned, “I believed in monsters and Aliens, Doctor, and they proved to be real, is an afterlife too much to ask for? Besides Doris saw it! It’s a beautiful garden, and she's there waiting for me to join her!”

He told her about Doris’s last words and the Doctor could see the faith and hope in the old mans heart, and knew he would meet his death as he lived his life, bravely and fearlessly!

The Doctor smiled at her oldest and dearest friend. She squeezed his hand. “Give Doris my love when you see her, and thank her for taking such good care of my best friend!”

“I will Doctor, but don't look so sad! You've got a time machine, I may be gone tomorrow but I'll always be here yesterday and the 43 years we knew each other before that!”

She shook her head, “You know that shouldn't happen Alistair! Once you're ... d...ead, then ..”

“Doctor if you're careful then you know it can happen and you know that I know the rules. You can't affect my death, you know I live to this day and you can't change that, unless you intend trying to get me killed earlier?”

She shook her head her tears falling. 

So come and visit, we both know the rules. This won't be goodbye it's just the end of the road but you can visit any time between now and 1968, but after 75 would be better as I understood you better after that. I've left you a journal, it records all your visits. Wouldn't want you bumping in to yourself!” he motioned to the bedside cabinet. “I left instructions to have it passed on to you. But you can take it with you!”

He smiled up at her. “You take care my friend and thank you for making life so interesting!”

Suddenly he turned his head towards the end of the bed, “Doris!” he exclaimed his eyes shining, “At last, oh love, I have missed you!”

His grip on the Doctors hand relaxed, his eyes closed and his face had a contented smile.

The Doctor stood up, wiped away her tears and bent over to plant a kiss on his brow. 

Martha entered the room just as the Doctor retrieved the large envelope from the bedside cabinet. She walked over to the bed and stroked back the old mans hair.

“We are going to miss him, Doctor! The world feels a lot less safe without him here. It will certainly feel a lot lonelier!”

The Doctor nodded, her eyes full of tears. But her hearts were full of love, at the knowledge that she would still be able to see Alistair again, when she wanted to! 

________________________________________________________________________________

Just as Nicks fans can. We all can travel back in time and see him when we want to, thanks to DVD's, reruns and box sets!


End file.
